소중화

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 小中華, from 小 (“little”) + 中華 (“China”)

Pronunciation
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [ˈsʰo̞(ː)d͡ʑuŋβwa̠]
  • Phonetic hangul: [소(ː)중화]
    • Though still prescriptive in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?sojunghwa
Revised Romanization (translit.)?sojunghwa
McCune–Reischauer?sojunghwa
Yale Romanization?sōcwunghwa

Noun

소중화 • (sojunghwa) (hanja 小中華)

  1. (historical) a non-Chinese country which had nonetheless attained the heights of Chinese civilization
  2. (in particular) Korea after the Manchu conquest of China, as Koreans believed themselves to have inherited Ming civilization

Usage notes
  • The use of 소중화 (Sojunghwa) in reference to Korea, while used by the Joseon Court, is nowadays considered degrading and is not used.
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